Liberation Film Series: 2015 - 2016 Season

ADVANCE THE STRUGGLE!

During the last moments of his life, the revolutionary General Gordon Baker, Jr. (September 6, 1941 – May 17, 2014) stated, “In the continuum of history, I have always said no one person is that important. But, when one of our great warriors fell, we must close ranks and advance the struggle!” The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History’s nationally acclaimed Liberation Film Series (LFS) opens its fourth season with the powerful theme: Advance the Struggle!

In a Data Driven Detroit report, funded by the Skillman Foundation, entitled, “The State of the Detroit Child: 2010,” the following conclusive statements were cited: “The data reveal nothing less than a depression in the city [of Detroit].” “Half of Detroit’s children live in poverty, and a quarter to half of its workforce is unemployed.” “Detroit ranked 37th out of 54 metros for the highest per capita personal income.” “During the 2009-2010 school year, 88 percent of Detroit public school students were African American. Hispanic students made up 8.2 percent and white students were 2.5 percent.” “Many parents have decided their children’s best education opportunities are outside Detroit.” “Education Secretary Arne Duncan has called the DPS drop-out rate ‘devastating’ and told the Detroit Free Press in November 2010 that DPS is ‘arguably the worst urban school district in the country’.” The Detroit News, July 16, 2015, reported, “The number of black children living in poverty in the U.S. has surpassed the number of poor white children for the first time since U.S. Census has tracked such numbers in 1974, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center.” May 15. 2015, The Detroit News reported, “20,000 to 25,000 residential accounts currently in shut-off status.” Emergency Management Laws violate African American voting rights. The Voting Rights Act is being unraveled during the Obama presidency via Shelby County v. Holder. Our struggle for human rights and social justice continues.

We must create alternate venues to educate our youth and the community at-large. Inter-generational knowledge transfer must be accelerated.The Liberation Film Series promotes literacy, critical thinking, independent thought and informed activism. The LFS 2015-2016 has a powerful line-up of scholar-activists, community-activists, students, films and conversation topics that promote literacy, independent thought, critical analysis and informed activism. Charles Ezra Ferrell, the LFS founder and Director of Public Programs can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (313) 494-5835.

General Gordon Baker, Jr. (September 6, 1941 – May 17, 2014) was an internationally-known labor leader and human rights activist who has been called the most important 21st century American revolutionary. He was a leader of the Detroit wildcat strikes in the 1960s, a founder of the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) and the legendary League of Revolutionary Black Workers and the first American to refuse induction to fight in Vietnam.

Saturday, October 3, 2015 from 2 PM - 5 PM

Police Terrorism: Case Studies – Detroit and Ferguson & Aurora Harris Tribute Poetry Reading for Dr. Ahmad Rahman: War is Here! A screening of news video highlighting police terrorism in America, which began with the inception of the Black Codes, with a focus on Detroit and Ferguson.

Book Signing for We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement,Winner of the 2014 Anna Julia Cooper-CLR James Book Award presented by the National Council of Black Studies - Akinyele Omowale Umoja

Saturday, October 24, 2015 from 2 PM - 5 PM

The African Origins of Humanity and Civilization:A rare televised interview of Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop by Listervelt Middleton. Diop, along with W.E.B. DuBois, was considered the most important intellectuals of the 20th century. His significant works overturn white supremacy by establishing that ancient Egypt (Kemet), from the beginning and particularly the 18th through the 25th Dynasty, was a Black African epoch. Panelists: Jamon Jordon, President of ASALH-Detroit and Bonotchi Montgomery, author and MDT NTR instructor.

Saturday, November 14, 2015 from 2 PM - 5 PM

The History of the Maroons in America featuring a screening of the film, Quilombo, along with Dr. Nubia Kai as the selected speaker. Palmares is a 17th-century quilombo, a settlement of escaped enslaved Africans in the mountains of northeast Brazil. The story follows a group of Africans who revolt in 1650 and escape to the mountains to the city of Palmares, where they join others who have already been living there peacefully and autonomously.

Book Reading and Pre-Orders: I Spread My Wings and Fly, an historical novel set in the mid 1850’s in southern Louisiana. The novel focuses on the maroon tradition in the United States, the psychological effects of slavery, and the dynamics of slave culture, folklore, and philosophy.

Sunday, December 6, 2015 from 2 PM - 5 PM

African American Genius Challenging Racism in America featuring a screening of the film, Something the Lord Made, along with Wright Lassister, President of Henry Ford Health System (HFHA)as the selected speaker.

Saturday, January 16, 2016 from 2 PM - 5 PM

Police Terrorism: From Black Codes to 2016 featuring Dr. Akinyele Omowale Umoja, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of African American Studies, Georgia State University. Also featured will be a book signing for We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi and screening regarding the police extrajudicial killing of Black people.

Saturday, February 6 from 2 PM - 6 PM

What Happened to Idlewild? An African-American Resort Town featuring a screening of the film Idewild: A Place in the Sun, and book signing for The Rise, Decline, and Rebirth of a Unique African American Resort Town. Dr. Ronald J. Stephens, Professor and Director, African American Studies and Research Center at Purdue University, is the selected speaker.

Saturday, February 13 from 3 PM - 7 PM

50th Anniversary Call for Black Power and tribute to Dr. Ahmad Rahman and Ron Scott featuring a book signing and film screening for The Black Panther: Vanguard of the Revolution, with special guest Kathleen Neal Cleaver, Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow at Emory University School of Law and former Communications Secretary of the Black Panther Party. The event will be introduced by Dr. Errol Henderson, Associate Professor, The Pennsylvania State University.

Saturday, February 27, 2016 from 4 PM - 7 PM

Tribute to Frantz Fanon: His Continuing Relevance featuring Dr. William Strickland, Professor Emeritus, Afro-American Studies, UMass-Amherst; Dr. Rita Kiki Edozie, Professor of International Relations and African American and African Studies at Michigan State University; and Dr. Lewis R. Gordon, Professor of Philosophy and Africana Studies at University of Connecticut - Storrs. Included will be a film screening of Rediscovering Fanon produced by Rico Speight and book signing for What Fanon Said (2015) by Lewis R. Gordon.